To Love & Conquer
by Syzeria
Summary: Jack strikes a deal with Death to overcome the struggles of immortality and guardianship. On his quest to live eternally with no loved ones ever dying, how much will Jack sacrifice? Is it possible to cheat Death? - on hiatus until June.
1. Unanswered Questions

**To Love & Conquer  
Chapter I - Unanswered Questions**

The Burgess skies were clear and blue as Nicholas St. North's eyes, who pulled from his red coat a glimmering snow globe. "We go to North Pole and have another celebration!" he bellowed to the other guardians. He threw the snow globe long and, shining in waves of colors, the orb burst into a cloudy wisp ahead.

The sleigh rocked violently as the reindeer flew higher into the wintry air. Jack Frost held onto the edge as he sat on the back rim of the sleigh, looking down at the shrinking dots that were the sand-dusted Jamie and his friends. He barely made out their arms waving goodbye before they fell asleep on the ice, and North's workers encircled them to carry them home.

Jack's grin, usually bringing warmth and a mischievous air to his pale face, was dwindling as his eyes lost their luster. The icy wind, rushing against Jack's ears, seemed to whisper, _Don't leave them, Jack ... Don't leave Jamie ..._

He shook the thought out of his mind, and with a heavy heart, Jack turned around and slouched against the sleigh. Baby Tooth hovered beside him and gave a faint chirp, her kaleidoscopic eyes concerned.

"Aw, cheer up, mate," Bunny said with his claws embedded in the wood of the sledge. "You'll see Jamie soon, and––" He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Blimey, North, do you mind steadying the sleigh?"

North gave a booming laugh and the sleigh jerked forward wildly as they rushed into the snow globe portal and vanished beneath the moon.

Jack's eyes dried against the powerful wind as the world went white for a second, then they flew into the frozen land of the North Pole. The guardians held on tightly as the sleigh dropped onto a landing dock beneath North's workshop. Yetis gathered around them and began steering the reindeer away. The Guardians were ushered off the sleigh and up along an icy path that curled around the cliff. North began barking orders to his point-hatted workers to prepare music and eggnog.

"Unlock cookie cellar, and bring all the cookies out!" His voice drummed cheerfully. "And do not eat any, or we play Pin Tail on the Elves!"

They came to a steep bridge that led upward to the peak, where the toy factory stood enormous and tall. As they walked along the overpass, Jack's mind maintained an occupied blankness, as he had little room to think amongst the animated guardians.

"Ladies, fly ahead and search for decorations," Tooth exclaimed to Baby Tooth and half a dozen of her other miniature fairies, her voice so bright she was all but singing. "I doubt North has much, but take what you can get! Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" She darted over to Bunny a few feet ahead, her wings beating a hundred times a second. "Do rabbits know any fun dances? Do you even dance? Or do you have two giant left feet?"

Bunnymund looked down at his long, numb paws and frowned. "That––that's a good question. I reckon I've never danced before."

Sandman began warping sand into images of Bunny tripping over himself, to which the rabbit replied by swatting the sand above Sandman's head. Drifting away with a pleasant smile, Toothiana looked around and found Jack walking silently at the end of the party.

The merry humming of her wings faltered as Jack kept his gaze fixed on the ground. "... Jack?" she asked as she dropped to meet his eyes. "Are you feeling OK?"

He quickly lifted his head and raised his arms. "Never been better!" he replied with a wide grin, the cheer not reaching his eyes. "I'm a guardian now, aren't I? Let's walk faster, I want to celebrate!" He then returned to silence and shoved his hands into his sweater pocket.

Toothiana's violet pupils contracted as she cast a fleeting glance at the small, angular bundle within. Her crown feathers ruffled and she opened her mouth to speak, but instead she forced a wide smile across her face and flew above the group. "Um, Jack's right. We're moving like we're still not believed in!"

North suddenly froze and glared up at the Tooth Fairy, his beetling brows cross and his eyes still glinting in the shadow of the cliff. "_Not believed in,_ you say? We will see who's believed in most! Last one to workshop cleans reindeer droppings!"

Santa Claus began pounding up the trail to his hideaway with Bunnymund, Toothiana and Sandman right behind him. They pushed and tripped as they climbed the last stretch of the bridge. All the while Jack kept his walking pace, twirling his staff in one hand, the other tucked in his pocket. Despite their struggles and triumphs over the last four days, Jack felt no urge to celebrate, as something was nagging at the forefront of his mind, occupying his consciousness like a premature obsession.

"At least they're having fun," he muttered to himself as the others squeezed through the main gates and entered through the large metal doors of the workshop.

Once he reached the entrance, Jack stopped and felt his tooth box in his sweater pouch, the metal cold against his fingers. He pulled out the gold-painted case and stared hard at the face on one end of the box. It was his face––Jack knew they were more the same person than not––but the image looked only slightly familiar.

He clenched the box tightly. _There's got to be something I still need to remember. I have to know the rest,_ he decided. He cast a brief glance at the dome building before him and pulled a wayward grin. _They'll be fine without me for a while._

Jack waved his staff through the air and a cold breeze blew snow against the walls of North's workshop, putting out the exterior torches. He waited a moment, but no one seemed to notice his absence or the sudden darkness, and so he was alone.

Jack lifted himself effortlessly off the ground and the wind carried him to the dome roof above his companions. He sat with his back against the tented point at the top, and paused a moment to enjoy the ceaseless call of nature's breath, beckoning him to join it.

As the moment came down upon him like a beating drum, doubt began to cloud his curiosity. He did not know if there was perhaps a part of him––a wrongdoing, a struggle, or any dark memory––better left forgotten. Was there a reason the man in the moon had wiped his memory clean?

Jack rolled his eyes and let the box fall onto his lap. "I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?" he asked the moon, even if it was set on this side of the world. "I shouldn't be worried. You picked me because the old Jack was good, because he ... I, saved my sister, and––"

Jack paused, unable to finish his sentence, and the wind seemed to have stopped its howling as a thought crossed his mind. _My sister ... what was her name ...? _He racked his brain for the answer. He tapped his head with his staff, searching for a recollection, but Jack realized he did not know a thing about his sister.

With something in mind to look for, Jack took the box back into his hands. He breathed deeply, gripped his tooth box tightly, and pressed the indigo marble diamond on the lid. He waited.

* * *

A.N: The real intrigue is in the next chapter. Please follow this story if you're interested to see what will happen. Leave a review to tell me your thoughts, especially if there is a particular name you absolutely do or don't want Jack's sister to have. Thank you for reading!


	2. Immortal Burdens

**To Love & Conquer**  
**Chapter II - Immortal Burdens**

The large diamond on the tooth box flickered, but the other small shapes neither twirled nor unfolded to reveal the memories beneath. The box did not glimmer, and it did not envelop Jack in a golden light.

It would not open.

Jack's dark brows furrowed and he brushed the diamond again. He tried repeatedly with all his fingers, even smacked the box against his elbow, but the answers to his mysteries remained sealed.

His groaned echoed in the frozen landscape as his bright eyes darkened fleetingly ... but he knew there was no hope in anger. _Maybe there is nothing I haven't seen, _he thought dejectedly.

"I just want to know her name, is that too much to ask for?" he burst out, but the box still would not respond. He frowned, disappointed. He had been sure there was more to his past life than what he had seen before.

A wave of nausea came upon him and Jack leaned back against the base of the tented roof. He closed his eyes as drowsiness fought to consume him. Going to the gathering below him was out of question, as his body now yearned for the sleep it had been deprived of for several nights. Jack's mind soon slipped out of consciousness and was willing to give in at last, when his tooth box slipped out of his ivory hand, sliding down the roof with a loud grinding that startled him alert.

"No!" He flung himself forward and reached out to grab it, but his fingertips brushed against the box and sent it flying off the roof, down to the chasm below the workshop.

Jack's dived after it, but he wavered when he suddenly heard a dull _clang!_ and a sharp cry.

Toothiana emerged from below with dazed, light violet eyes. Jack struggled to a halt at the edge of the dome roof, nearly colliding with the confused fairy, and his heart stopped at the sight of his tooth box in her hand.

"Jack? What––ow ..." Toothiana mumbled as she rubbed her head, smoothed her rustled feathers, and blushed despite herself. "You dropped this." She handed him his box and he took it gingerly.

"Sorry, Tooth," he said sheepishly. "I was just resting my eyes up here ... and I guess the box slipped out of my pocket."

Toothiana gave her head a rough shake and looked down at the box in his hand. "Or," she said slowly, her long lashes hiding the sadness in her eyes, "the box didn't respond to your touch when you wanted to see the rest of your past life."

A silence fell between them, and they hovered in the biting wind until Jack nodded.

Toothiana's crown feather drooped as she took his hand. "Come with me. We need to talk," she said, and led him off the roof and into the workshop. Once they opened the doors and flew in, blaring music flooded their ears as North tried to teach Bunnymund and Tooth's fairies a Russian folk dance. Jack and Toothiana paused in the shadow of a pillar and they watched Bunnymund trip over an elf and collide into Sandman. Glass shattered and Sandman looked downcast at his spilt eggnog.

"Ah!" North cried out and the music scratched to a stop. "Sandy! Lick that eggnog off of carpet!"

The Sandman shrugged with a far gone grin and dropped to floor, a row of elves eagerly joining him. Jack snickered and began walking towards the torchlight and the gathering but Toothiana held him back, steering him instead down two stories and into North's office. Toothiana shut the oak door and fluttered in place for a moment, before turning around to face a puzzled and slightly wary Jack.

"Jack, your box won't open because there's nothing in there that can help you with your problems," she told him outright.

Jack lifted a brow. "Problems? No, I'm fine," he shrugged and gave Tooth a white smile. "I was just curious to see the rest of my past. I thought it would be a good idea to get a whole image of what I'm leaving behind ... before I start my guardian life."

Toothiana shook her head. Even in his distress, Jack held an allure that made her want to believe him––to trust that nothing could ever be wrong with him. But she had seen people in his position before, holding answers in their hands and believing it would help them.

She had to find a way to make him see otherwise, because some memories are better left forgotten.

"You can't lie to me, Jack," she told him gently, "not when it comes to childhood memories. Any tooth box I've ever made will only show the memories someone needs to see most. If what you're saying were true, the box would help you. Showing you anything and everything is easy, but something in particular is another story. What you think you want to see might not be what you really need."

Jack averted his eyes and spun his staff in his hands. Toothiana floated closer, choosing her words carefully. "I want to help you, but first you need figure out what it is you're really looking for. Start with telling me what the box has shown you before."

The slim guardian sighed. "The first time I opened the box, I saw my sister and what had happened to me. She and I were on the pond ice when it began to crack under our feet. I managed to get her to a safe patch, but I fell in. The ice froze over, the moon changed me into Jack Frost, and then I woke up. What I wanted this time was to know who my family were––"

"Look deeper, Jack. What you really want is to know what happened to them after you died," Toothiana clarified with a heavy heart.

Jack blinked, stunned. "Yeah ... I guess that's it. How did you––"

His voice broke as Toothiana put her hands on his shoulders. "Your tooth box can't show you anything beyond your death. If you wanted to see your sister, I or a mini fairy would have to open your sister's tooth box for you."

Jack backed away in disbelief, his ignorance encircling him. His eyes lowered to the ground and he groaned. "I'm so ... Why didn't I think of that?" he exclaimed, his eyes darting this way and that. He approached her, leaning forward earnestly. "Tooth, that solves everything. Would you do that for me?"

Toothiana looked away, and his brows lowered in bewilderment. "... Tooth?"

She dropped to the ground, her wings going limp against her back. "I'm sorry, Jack," she said in an undertone. "I shouldn't have told you that. I want to help you, believe me ... but I can't."

_I'm such a rotten tooth,_ she criticized herself. _Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut?_

Jack looked down at her and felt hopelessness creeping back in. "Why not?"

"We're immortal, Jack," she answered softly, fiddling with an ice bicycle on the floor. "If you were to see your sister's memories, whatever they hold, you'll only put yourself through an eternity of sadness."

Jack shook his head and gripped his staff. "No, you don't know that––"

_"I don't?"_ Toothiana suddenly cried, dropping the ice sculpture and shattering it. Her wings beat erratically and lifted her up to his level. "Even _you_ know what you'd find. Bloody cuspids, Jack," she cursed, "your sister watched you fall into the ice and drown for saving her! Her childhood memories are sad. Unhappy childhoods happen more often than you think, and it's hard for my fairies and I to help kids remember happiness when their pasts are ruined by tragedy."

Toothiana's voice suddenly quieted, and her throat made a weak hiccough. "Your sister will be no different ... I'm sorry," she whispered, and she felt tears fighting to emerge. "I can't do it, because I know it'll only hurt you."

Jack stood motionless in the center of the room, his heart alive yet stopped. With his lips pressed together, he dropped his staff, and sank slowly to the ground. He breathed out but no words come, his gaze was fixed on the stone floor.

Toothiana sat in front of him, lifting his ice cold staff and returning it to him. "That's the thing with being a guardian," Tooth murmured with a sniffle. "We all need to understand that our pasts happened so we could become what we are. Beyond that, we have to let it all go, for the children ... and for our own sakes."

Jack gave a faint nod, the air around him so cold that their breaths turned to snow. The small beads of ice fell onto the floor between them and slowly melted on the stone.

Toothiana hoped she had not just broken his spirits.

"... Jack," she muttered after a long silence, "I want to apologize for what I said about your sister's memories. I shouldn't have been so heartless."

The novel guardian shook his head and met her eyes. "No, I needed to hear that ... Thanks for looking out for me."

Tooth's face suddenly fell apart and she pulled Jack into a hug. But before he could hold her, she let go with a shudder. "Y-you're so cold, Jack ... more than usual. It's almost as if you're––" her eyes widened and she stifled her gasp with a hand to her mouth.

"Dead cold?" he finished for her in a bittersweet voice.

Toothiana nodded, no longer looking at him. Her gaze was fixed instead on the door. Her tail feathers began to rustle and Jack gave her an odd look. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, just fine," she said absently. She broke into a flight and dashed straight for the door, only to stop and turn around for a moment. "I have an idea. Wait here, get some rest, and we'll come get you when we're finished."

Jack stood up and leaned against his staff. "Finished what?" he asked, but Toothiana had already shut the door behind her, leaving Jack alone in the dark office.

Toothiana soared up to the top floor, flew to the great room, and found North and Bunny fast asleep by the fireplace. Sandy floated dreamily above them, moving to a soothing waltz with an invisible partner. Toothiana clapped her hands loudly, pulling Sandy out of his eggnog-induced trance.

"That's enough, Sandy," she tried to say calmly. "Please wake them."

Sandman nodded curiously, swatting away the sand hovering above the heads of the snoring guardians. The pair shifted and briefly opened their eyes before falling back asleep. Sandy rolled his eyes.

Toothiana brought her fingers to her lips and blew, her whistling startling the two comatose guardians to life. They glanced up at the Tooth Fairy, whose eyes were glowing a brilliant violet. "Lights on, gentlemen!" her voice chimed. "We have an important event to plan that's been long overdue. North, get up and gather your elves. They'll need to change into something black, and so will anyone else who wears clothes. Bunny, go gather some flowers. I want them to be beautiful and nowhere near cheerful. Sandy––"

"Hold your ear bashing, Tooth," Bunnymund interrupted grouchily. "What sort of event is this?"

Toothiana dropped down to meet his eyes. She couldn't help but smile at her ingenuity. "It'll be a funeral, for Jack." The other guardians quickly crowded her, eyes full of confusion. Toothiana gazed upward and hoped they would understand.

"Why does Jack need funeral? He's not dead," North stated blatantly.

"You're mad as a hatter," Bunnymund said to her outright. "Unless you're planning to meet the Grim R––"

"Quiet, Bunny!" North shouted, clasping a large hand over the rabbit's mouth.

"Do not speak name of he who rules the dead," North ordered in a hushed tone as he cast fleeting glances at each shadow in the room. Sandman nodded gravely and he, too, looked around to be sure they had not just summoned the Grim Reaper.

Bunnymund rolled his eyes and swiped away North's hand. "Alright, rack off," Bunnymund grumbled, taking his turn to check the shadows. "I was just saying that _he _loves funerals. If you have one, he's bound to show up, whether you say his name or not."

Toothiana's wings fluttered defiantly. "I'm _not_ crazy, E. Aster Bunnymund," she argued, "and I'm pretty sure he only comes around when someone is truly dead. Jack just needs to lay his old life to rest before he can move on with eternity as a guardian. I'm going to arrange his funeral, and you are all going to help me."

Her fellow guardians gazed at each other, doubtful, but then Sandy shrugged and formed a sand candle above his head. Toothiana beamed, nodding at his proposal, and her wings went back to their restless beating as the guardians agreed to scatter and gather preparations.

Toothiana could only hope Jack would agree to this.


	3. A Black Occasion

**To Love & Conquer**  
**Chapter III - A Black Occasion**

The glow of the fireplace in North's office kindled a warmth, but Jack could not feel it. He leaned on the large industrial window, fiddling with his tooth box and looking out at the expanse of ice and snow. Not a night had passed since the battle with Pitch Black was fought, but Jack doubted the sun would ever come up.

_I wonder what Tooth is doing that could take this long_. Then, his ears perked at the sound of a humming outside the glass and oak door. Baby Tooth zipped under the door and into the room with a grin.

Jack held out his hand for her. "Hey, Baby Tooth. You know what she's up to, don't you?"

The fairy chirped and Jack sighed. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't tell me what."

Baby Tooth shook her head vigorously, sealing her mouth with her tiny hand. Jack nodded and went back to leaning against the windowsill. She patted his thumb and he muttered dully, "I know. We're supposed to be celebrating and I should be having fun ... of all people. I wish I could, but Tooth wants me to forget about my past. I understand why, but I ... I can't seem to let go."

The miniature fairy rustled her tail plumes against his hand, unable to do more to comfort him.

"I wish I could talk to my sister," he went on. "She must have had a hard time after I died, and I want to help her somehow. Even if she's gone ..." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm not making any sense."

Baby Tooth opened her mouth and hesitated, when the door opened to reveal Bunnymund, garbed in a black cloak that fell to his knees. Jack gave the rabbit an odd look, to which the cony rolled his eyes.

"Just follow me," Bunnymund beckoned. "Tooth has got a little something that will make you stone the crows."

Baby Tooth hovered up to Jack's shoulder, who with a clenched jaw, followed the rabbit. The guardians walked out onto the factory floor, the wall gears turning though no toys were being made, and took the lift. As the number of floors left to rise above decreased, Jack's heart beat faster until it began to feel sore.

_Do I want to stone the crows? _he wondered gravely.

Jack's head then rose over the highest floor and his eyes widened. As the lift slowed, he found Santa's main hall transformed. Paired with the lights on the globe, the room was lit by candlelight scattered along the oak beams and columns. In the center of the room stood ebony-clad elves, and North in a thick black robe. Toothiana, Sandman, and as many Yetis as could fit awaited him, too, and everyone carried white hydrangeas and blue chrysanthemums in their hands and paws.

Jack stood dumbfounded on the lift, afraid to come closer. "I ..." He failed to say anything else, his mind empty of quick remarks. He resisted slightly as Bunnymund and Baby Tooth ushered him forward. "Just keep calm," the rabbit whispered.

"Jack," Tooth greeted him with an unexpected shyness. "Um, we decided to ... well ..."

"Welcome to your funeral," North interrupted with a gruff voice. The Yetis gaped at their chief, and Sandman looked at the burly man crossly.

Jack's brow rose high and he found his words. "Is this ... am I going to be murdered?" he asked dryly with a grin so flat he might have been serious.

Toothiana rushed forward. "No, not at all!" she insisted with a nervous laugh. She led him to the center of the room, where the crowd encircled the medallion tile that bore the silhouettes of the five guardians. Jack gazed down at his own, new tile, with frost patterns around his white contour. His heart was touched but his mind stayed stubborn with shock and resistance.

"I knew it would be hard for you to move forward unless you lay your past to rest," Toothiana clarified. "So ... that's just what we're going to do."

Jack gave her a sideways glance. _Please don't do this, _his eyes begged silently, aware of everyone else in the room. _I'm not ready yet._

Toothiana's eyes swirled with doubt as he looked like a creature backed against a wall with his predators upon him. She landed on the floor, looking immediately smaller. "Just try, Jack. This might help," she whispered.

He looked down at the tiles around which everyone stood, and a voice in his head screamed him to run. Jack shut his eyes, and when he eventually heard his own breathing above the thumping of his heart, he gave in and nodded.

North stepped forward, causing elves in black to scatter beneath him. "I will start," he announced in a softer voice.

"Here, lies Jack Frost. A boy who always found a way to have fun." North tossed his handful of hydrangeas onto the tile, and several white petals scattered.

Sandman floated uncomfortably in the crowd, unable to speak. He twiddled his thumbs and, with no other ideas, conjured a moon of sand and a shooting star.

"Sandy's right," Bunnymund spoke. "The Man in the moon picked the right bloke to be a guardian. Although Jack was obnoxious and immature," he added with a bucktooth grin, "he was a good friend and a hero." Bunnymund and Sanderson lay their blue bouquets on the tile.

After centuries of being unnoticed, at this very moment Jack almost loathed being seen. His cyan blue eyes shifted and found workers and guardians gazing back at him, and he felt like a show dog on the spotlight.

However, when he found Toothiana's kind gaze beside him, a warmth stirred and fought with his eternally cold insides, and seemed to be winning. Unsure of and drawn to the sudden change inside him, he refused to look elsewhere as Tooth spoke.

"Jack was only seventeen when he saved his sister, and paid for his sacrifice with his life. His spirit and courage will always be remembered." She placed her flowers on the medallion tile.

The crowd went silent, waiting on Jack to say something heartfelt and moving, to prove to them he was prepared to lay his old self to rest.

He was not ready, but he had to try.

"... What happened to Jack was sad," he said slowly and consciously, "but he had a family and a good life. May he rest in peace, so he can move forward with his life now ... And with his new family." He looked around, scratching the nape of his neck and returning the smiles of the crowd.

An elf tapped Jack's calf and handed him a blue hydrangea. Jack held it in his hand and blew at the dozens of petals, capturing their beauty beneath a sheet of ice before setting them on the floor. There was a moment of silence, and everyone bowed their heads.

Then a group of elves abruptly marched through, pushing aside other point-hatted creatures with a large tray of steaming drinks over their heads. The silence tarnished, the Yetis passed the drinks around and they all raised their glasses. "To our newest guardian," saluted North.

"To Jack," rung the voices of the crowd.

Jack brought the cup to his lips and hesitated before he gulped down the hot cocoa. There was a long silence, and Jack felt the pressure to speak again.

"... Um, thank you all for doing this. It means a lot, and this helped," he half-lied. Maybe this was the first step before time slowly muddied the heaviness of his past. However, if three hundred years of immortality taught him anything, it was that time forever moves at an inconvenient pace.

The crowd dissipated as the elves retreated through the holes in the walls to their beds, and Jack found himself able to breathe easier when the Yetis blew out the candles and left. Sandman wrapped a thread of sand around him, telling the other guardians he had to return to the sleeping children, and flew out of the workshop. Two dozen miniature fairies followed suit, their wings a fading orchestra of pitter-patters.

North stretched broadly, and patted Jack on the shoulder. "You stay here as long as you like, the Yetis have made a room for you on the lowest floor. I hope you will sleep a little better now," he said.

Jack pulled a grin. "I will, thanks to you guys."

North shook his head, his beard swaying. "Because of Toothy," he corrected as he turned away with Bunnymund and headed for the lift.

Jack twirled his staff in his palm and glanced over at Toothiana, whose iridescent wings kept her afloat as she watched the globe. He walked up to her gingerly.

"... Thanks, Tooth," he said, gathering her attention. She dropped to his level and gave a small smile. "Would ... would sharing your past one day defeat the purpose of the funeral we just had?" he asked as he traced the frost on his staff.

She shook her head. "I'd be happy to tell you someday. Trust me, Jack, things will get easier as time flies ... But are you sure you're OK? I know it was a shock, and maybe I should have asked first––"

"Tooth, everything is fine," he said lightly, raising his hands. "You don't have to worry."

She wrung her hands, still not entirely convinced. His torment was still fresh in her memory. "You say that so easily, but a few hours ago you were derailing and wanted to ... you know ... find out about your sister. I'd be surprised and a little worried if you were able to move on that quickly."

_She thinks I'm going to run off, _he thought. Jack bit his lip and offered, "If Baby Tooth kept an eye on me tonight, would you trust me?"

Tooth's brow raised in surprise, and she nodded once when she collected herself. "Baby Tooth," she called, and the tiny fairy appeared out of nowhere. "I want you to stay with Jack tonight."

The sprite gave a quizzical squeak.

"You have to make sure I don't go anywhere, or do anything stupid," Jack explained.

Baby Tooth's eyes bulged and she tried to bring up the disastrous night she was to watch him bring Sophie home, but before she could form her squeaks, Jack walked briskly away and dove into a flight to the lowest level of the workshop. Toothiana rushed her small fairy to follow him. Rolling her eyes hopelessly, Baby Tooth fluttered after him and found the guardian headed for the reindeer stables. She darted exasperatedly through the threshold and braked hard in her flight when Jack's roguish face popped up unexpectedly.

She waved a fist at him, crying out loudly, and Jack laughed it off. "Pipe down, don't be like that. This is not going to be like the time we went to Pitch's hideout. Just hear me out, and if you choose not to help me, you can rat me out to Tooth and I won't stop you," he promised.

Her mouth hung open, but she did not speak.

"Look, that funeral honestly did help," he insisted, "but I can't live forever without knowing the truth about my sister. I want––I need to see my sister's memories, but I can't get this closure without you."

Baby Tooth's lips quivered, a battle raging inside her. She couldn't disobey her queen, and yet the pearly-toothed guardian desperately needed her help.

Jack gazed at her with pleading eyes, and he whispered, "None of the others would understand. Will you help me see my sister?"

Baby Tooth sighed, bitterly aware of how easily she was surrendering. She lifted herself off his hand and flew with him out the long crystallized tunnel that led to the night air. The wind traveled with them Southeast and seemed to push them forward.

They left behind the freezing cold of the North pole and soon wound up in the humidity of Southeast Asia. The moon hung low in the sky as they approached Tooth's Palace, which was hidden from mortal view by mountain ranges and dense clouds. The lush forests along the cliffs looked entirely different in the night, like dark moss sprawled against the average rock. Even Toothiana's home seemed unfamiliar to Jack, with its coral and rose hues exchanged for lavenders and smoke blues.

Baby Tooth and Jack were met by a swarm of fairies with teeth in their hands and kindles in their gazes, and the pair eventually reached the tallest peak. Jack followed Baby Tooth around a large boulder that blended seamlessly with the mountain and cleverly concealed the entrance behind it. The inverted towers, hanging down like stalactite, came into view, and it surprised Jack to see the fairies at work, filing the teeth like clockwork.

Jack could see why Toothiana had stopped gathering the teeth herself––the numbers had become too great for one fairy to handle.

_My job as guardian is nothing compared to hers, _he thought as Baby Tooth turned a corner and hovered before a small column joined to the main tower of North America. She waved her hands and Jack began searching through the thousands of faces of children from the Dark Ages.

Dawn edged closer. Time was running out before the guardians would notice his absence, but Jack lucked out and spotted the rosy complexion and sleek brown hair of his younger sister. He flung himself towards her tooth box and pulled it out of its slot. Baby Tooth led him to a platform of gold and ruby tiles. She beckoned him to sit down, and he obeyed without tearing his eyes away from the box.

Baby Tooth chirped and she wondered at the sunlight reflected by his eyes.

"I'm about to see my sister," he said in a low voice, like one who realized the risk of the moment but had prepared himself to see it through. "I'm going to see everything I ever missed out on ... and know if she and my parents turned out alright."

Toothiana's voice rung like a bell in his mind. _Our pasts happened so we could become what we are. Beyond that, we have to let it all go .._. But if Jack ever wanted to find peace with this, he had to know the truth.

Baby Tooth took his free hand and pressed her own to his finger. Together, they brushed his sister's box, and his heart threatened to burst like a child with a Christmas present, hoping the contents were wholesome and good.

The lid began to glow. The diamonds twirled before his eyes as a golden light seized and pulled him into another world.

xxxxx

Jack's surroundings were absolute darkness and he looked around in a slight panic until he realized his eyes were closed. With shortness of breath he opened them, and gasped at the world he found himself in.

He was sitting on spring grass without his staff, still wearing his frosted hood over his pale body. His eyes flashed around and widened at the sight of his sister sitting a few feet away, looking up at the clouds with a sunny grin. She was younger than when he had seen her through his own box, but the freckles at the corner of her right eye were unmistakable.

He opened his mouth and hesitated, as if he forgot how to speak, when he heard a voice indistinguishable from his call out, "Mary! Are you coming?"

Jack stood to get a better view of the dark-haired and impossibly skinnier Jack running towards them. His sister rose and hurried to the other Jack.

Jack Frost watched the pair race into the woods, and his eyes flooded with a joy he had been longing to find in this past.

"Mary," he said to himself, beaming wondrously from the comfort of this happy memory.

He broke into a sprint after them, but before he could reach the woods he stumbled into blackness. Jack forced himself to blink profusely, and a familiar cry pierced his ears.

"Jack!" came Mary's voice, shrill with terror.

He found himself on the pond ice. His sister was crouched by a hole in the frozen water, leaning forward and back frantically in a battle of survival and desperation.

Jack slid over to his sister's side, who was still unaware of him as she began removing her skates with shaking fingers. Jack's heart hammered and shattered at the sight of his overwrought sister. He wished he could tell her there was no point, but that he turned out alright in the end. He could do nothing but watch.

"No, Jack––please! I'm coming!" She staggered over to the hole and dove, but the hole sealed itself in a flash of ice and caught her just as Jack lunged forward. Her face collided with the cold barrier but she did not notice the pain. Jack tore his eyes from his sister for a moment and glanced at the moon, unnaturally bright in full daylight, before turning back at the sound of pounding. Mary punched the ice with her small fists and she kept calling his name, tears pooling from her eyes and joining instantly with the frozen water.

Jack felt a tear fighting to emerge and it unsettled him––he had not cried for over a century. He wiped it away and tried to touch his sister's shoulder, but his hand went through her as if he were a ghost.

His breath heaving, the world went black before Jack found himself in a small room cramped with beds, Mary, his mother, and whom he guessed was their father.

They surrounded their daughter in a tight and swaying embrace. Mary's sobs were relentless, despite their mother hushing her gently and their father uttering incoherence and storming outside to the pond. Their faces were all struck with trauma, and Jack stood there motionless as his family mourned.

He could not help begging to anyone who would listen, "Please stop this ... I don't want to see anymore ..."

But he had taken the risk, and Mary's teeth had more to show him. His vision blurred before focusing on a girl of less than fifteen years with two freckles below her right eye.

Jack stepped back in disbelief at his sister's awfully sallow appearance. She stood up to his shoulders, had swollen skin under her glazed brown eyes, and her fringe hung disheveled over her knitted brows. She looked as though she had just seen the face of Death.

Jack looked around and found himself back at the pond, and another wave of emotions crashed over him. "Mary," he called out to her desperately. "I'm not _here_ anymore. I came out of the ice a few days after I fell in––why are you here? Where are our parents?"

He followed her gaze to a specific spot on the ice and his shoulders sagged. The pond was as solid as ever, but she still remembered where he had fallen in after saving her.

"I'm so sorry, Jack," Mary whispered. "We should never have gone on the ice that day ... I've ruined everything. Mother and Father ... they died in their sleep last night. I haven't come to see you in a few years, but I thought you ought to know ..." She fell to her knees and held her face as she broke down into a tearless fit.

Jack's face contorted in pain. "Please," he cried. "Baby Tooth, make it stop! Someone, get me out of here––"

The world flashed black again and Jack was thrust forward in time. When the world stopped spinning, Jack wound up beside his sister and a fire in the center of the same shadowy room in which he saw his parents moments ago. He did not want to look, but his eyes betrayed him and rested on Mary's tangled hair and her lifeless complexion. Her eyes were alien, the windows to the soul of a broken and lonely young woman. Jack had a sinking feeling she was not older than twenty, but she looked unbearably ready to die.

A shadow passed over them, extinguishing the fire and clouding the room in darkness. Jack was frozen in place as the shadow cast over him as well, and a bone-chilling cold penetrated even him.

If he was looking at all the memories of his sister, it came only as a half-shock that he now saw her memory of Death closing in on her.

The cloaked figure of death's embodiment landed behind them, and Mary coughed weakly as she faced the tall creature who whispered nonsense beneath his torn black hood. Jack made out none of his words, but Mary seemed to understand. She lifted her head and asked in a frail voice, "Will I see Jack and my parents again?"

The epitome of death nodded and held out his hand, the flesh and veins scraped clean off the exposed bone. Mary took the ivory bone fingers in her own pale ones, and sighed in relief as Death's cloak engulfed her. Before Jack could move, he was blinded by a golden light that screamed of the freedom he had begged for.

Blurred figures suddenly appeared around him. They were impossible to discern, yet he knew they were the other guardians. His eyelids weighed a ton and his head whirled sickeningly as voices shifted from muffled to agonizing.

"Jack! Wake up," a voice cried, and Jack noted how alluring it sounded. He moaned in response, and fell unconscious.

* * *

A.N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'd love to know your thoughts on it.

If you were wondering, I chose Mary for Jack's sister because Mary Katherine Joyce was William Joyce's daughter. She passed away in 2010, and the film was dedicated to her memory. If that's not reason enough, Mary Katherine has an older brother named Jackson. My mind was pretty blown away when I read that.


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